O2 UK appoints to new mobile healthcare division

O2 UK has appointed Keith Nurcombe, a former executive at pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, to head a new mobile healthcare division. Report in Rethink Wireless.

I don't often make predictions, but I will here. I predict that we shall see Mr Nurcombe popping up at Continua Alliance events and expounding on 'ecosystems' and the wonderful future ahead and, at the same time, he will have one of the most frustrating years of his life. Large network providers suffer the same problems as large 'box shifting' companies in this field. With the pressure to grow their core business, whether it is broadband or kit, they cannot get close enough to nurses and medics to tune in to their real needs, to talk their language and to handhold them down the path of telehealth adoption. Steve

UPDATE: In this context, the following item is worth reading Build it and They Will Telemed? by Vincent Salvo. To give you a flavour: "In the healthcare device and software industry, the mantra: build it and they will come doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked since Noah built an ark or the movie Field of Dreams was made. Ignoring the user experience is what’s wrong with the healthcare experience and begs for innovation."